Mirage 



BY 



GEORGE M. P. BAIRD 




II 



Stewart Kidd 

MODERN PLAYS 

EDITED BY 
FRANK SHAY 



Stewart Kidd Dramatic Anthologies 

Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays 

Edited by 
FRANK SHAY and PIERRE LOVING 

THIS volume contains FIFTY REPRESENTATIVE ONE-ACT PLAYS 
of the MODERN THEATER, chosen from the dramatic works of con- 
temporary writers all over the world and is the second volume in the 
Stewart Kidd Dramatic Anthologies, the first being European Theories of the 
Drama, by Barrett H. Clark, which has been so enthusiastically received. 

The editors have scrupulously sifted countless plays and have selected the 
best available in English. One-half the plays have never before been pub- 
lished in book form ; thirty-one are no longer available in any other edition. 
The work satisfies a long-felt want for a handy collection of the choicest 
plays produced by the art theaters all over the world. It is a complete reper- 
tory for a little theater, a volume for the study of the modern drama, a rep- 
resentative collection of the world's best short plays. 

CONTENTS 



AUSTRIA 

Schnitzler (Arthur) — Literature 
BELGIUM 

Maeterlinck (Maurice) — The Intruder 
BOLIVIA 

More (Federico) — Interlude 
DENMARK 

Wied (Gustave) — ^Autumn Fires 
FRANCE 

Ancey (George) — M. Lamblin 

Porto- Riche (Georges) — Francoise's Luck 
GERMANY 

Ettinger (Karl) — Altruism 

von Hofmannsthal (Hugo) — Madonna Dia- 
nora 

Wedekind (Frank)— The Tenor 
GREAT BRITAIN 

Bennett (Arnold) — A Good Woman 

Calderon (George) — The Little Stone House 

Cannan (Gilbert) — Mary's Wedding 

Dowson (Ernest) — The Pierrot of the Min- 
ute. 

Ellis (Mrs. Havelock)— The Subjection 
of Kezia 

Hankin (St. John) — The Constant Lover 
INDIA 

Mukerji (Dhan Gopal) — The Judgment of 
Indra 
IRELAND 

Gregory (^Lady) — The Workhouse Ward 
HOLLAND' 

Speenhoff (J. H.) — Louise 
HUNGARY 

Biro (Lajos) — The Grandmother 
ITALY 

Giocosa (Giuseppe) — The Rights of the Soul 
RUSSIA 

Andreyev (Leonid) — Love of One's Neigh- 
bor 

Tchekoflf (Anton)— The Boor 



SPAIN 

Benevente (Jacinto) — His Widow's Hus- 
band 
Quinteros (Serafina and Joaquin Alverez) 

— A Sunny Morning 
SWEDEN 

Strindberg (August) — The Creditor 
UNITED STATES 

Beach (Lewis) — Brothers 
Cowan (Sada) — In the Morgue 
Crocker (Bosworth) — The Baby Carriage 
Cronyn (George W.) — A Death in Fever 

Flat 
Davies (Mary Carolyn) — The Slave with 

Two Faces 
Day (Frederick L.)— The Slump 
Flanner (Hildegard) — Mansions 
Glaspell (Susan) — Trifles 
Gerstenberg (Alice) — The Pot Boiler 
Helburn (Theresa) — Enter the Hero 
Hudson (Holland) — The Shepherd in the 

Distance 
Kemp (Harry) — Boccaccio's Untold Tale 
Langner (Lawrence) — Another Way Out 
MacMillan (Mary)— The Shadowed Star 
Millay (Edna St. Vincent) — Aria da Capo 
Moeller (Philip) — Helena's Husband 
O'Neill (Eugene)— He 
Stevens (Thomas Wood) — The Nursery 

Maid of Heaven 
Stevens (Wallace) — Three Travelers Watch 

a Sunrise 
Tompkins (Frank G.) — Sham 
Walker (Stuart) — The Medicine Show 
Wellman (Rita) — For All Time 
Wilde (Percival)— The Finger of God 
YIDDISH 

Ash (Sholom) — Night 

Pinski (David) — Forgotten Souls 



Large 8vo, ^8^ pages. Net, $^.oo 



Send for Complete Dramatic Catalogue 

STEWART KIDD COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS, - - CINCINNATI, U. S. A. 



STEWART KIDD MODERN PLAYS 

Edited by Frank Shay 



MIRAGE 



Stewart Kidd Modern Plays 
Edited by FRANK SHAY 

To meet the immensely increased demands of the play-reading public 
and those interested in the modern drama, Stewart Kidd are issuing 
under the general editorship of Frank Shay a series of plays from the pens 
of the world's best contemporary writers. No effort is being spared to 
secure the best work available, and the plays are issued in a form that is 
at once attractive to readers and suited to the needs of the performer 
and producer. Buffalo Express: "Each play is of merit. Each is unlike 
the other. The group furnishes a striking example of the realistic trend 
of the modern drama." 

From time to time special announcements will be printed giving com- 
plete lists of the plays. 

SHAM, a Social Satire in One Act. By Frank G. Tompkins. 
Originally produced by Sam Hume, at the Arts and Crafts Theatre, 

Detroit. 
San Francisco Bulletin : "The lines are new and many of them 
are decidedly clever." 
Providence Journal : "An ingenious and merry little one-act play." 

THE SHEPHERD IN THE DISTANCE, a Pantomime in 
One Act. By Holland Hudson. 
Originally produced by the Washington Square Players. 
Oakland Tribune: "A pleasing pantomime of the Ancient East." 

MANSIONS, a Play in One Act. By Hildegarde Planner. 
Originally produced by the Indiana Little Theatre Society. 
Three Arts Magazine : "This thoughtful and well-written play of 
Characters and Ideals has become a favorite with Little Theatres 
and is now available in print." 

HEARTS TO MEND, a Fantasy in One Act. 

By H. A. Over street. 

Originally produced by the Fireside Players, White Plains, N. Y. 
St. Louis Star : "It is a light whimsy and well carried out." 
San Francisco Chronicle: "No one is likely to hear or read it 
without real and legitimate pleasure. ' 

SIX WHO PASS WHILE THE LENTILS BOIL. 

By Stuart Walker. 

Originally produced by the Portmanteau Players at Christodora 

House, New York City. 
Brooklyn Eagle: "Literary without being pedantic, and dramatic 
without being noisy." 

OTHERS TO FOLLOW. Bound in Art Paper. Each, net, .50 



MIRAGE 



By 

GEORGE M. P. BAIRD 




CINCINNATI 

STEWART KIDD COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



Copyright, 1922 
STEWART KIDD COMPANY 






>^!>^ 



.^^v 
\'<" 



All Rights Reserved 



Applications for permission to produce Mirage must be 

made to the author, who may be addressed in care of the 

publishers, Stewart Kidd Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. 



C1A683719 



Printed in the United States of America 
' The Caxton Press 



m 20 192? 



MIRAGE 

A Play in One Act 

By 
GEORGE M. P. BAIRD 



PERSONS OF THE PLAY 

PoLAiNA, a Hopi Girl 

Grayson Stone, an Ethnologist 

Christine, his Wife 

Dr. James Hormek, a Psychiatrist 

A Hopi Woman 

Another Hopi Woman 



MIRAGE 



CONCERNING THE PEOPLE OF THE 
PLAY 

Polaina^ the niece of Chief Loloamai^ is a nine- 
teen-year-old daughter of an ancient Amarind 
tribe ^ and heir to a civilization different from ^ but 
in no essential sense inferior to^ that of the paler 
peoples who have invaded its demesne. She is a 
'^ child of nature" perhaps^ but by no means a 
simple one. Passion and stoicism^ intellectual 
curiosity and superstition^ frankness and guile, 
craving and custom, struggle within her. She is 
neither a pathetic fool nor a sentimental wanton, 
but a strong woman with an intense desire for hap- 
piness, an ardent love of life, and the courage to 
attempt their satisfaction whatever the cost, Po- 
laina is dressed in a wrapper-like, blue, cotton 
gown which reaches slightly below the knees. Her 
right shoulder and arm are bare, and a scarlet 
blanket is flung over the left shoulder and fastened 
beneath the right armpit. There are brightly 
beaded moccasins upon her feet, and her legs are 
wound about with strips of white cotton cloth. 
Her blue-black hair is parted in the center and 
rolled in elaborate ''butterfly" coils above her ears. 
These coils, together with the yellow squash blos- 



1 Polaina = Butterfly. 



MIRAGE 



soms which ornament them^ are a badge of virgin- 
ity among the Hopi Indians. Her necklace, 
braceletSy and large, square ear-pendants are of 
hammered silver set with raw turquoise. 

The First Hopi Woman is a middle-aged squaw, 
while the Second Hopi Woman is probably about 
ten years her senior. The faces of both are wrinkled 
with a thousand little lines. Their hair is stiffly 
braided, and their garments are similar to those of 
Polaina, though much more subdued in color. 
These women are the sibyls of the play, their func- 
tion being not unlike that of a Greek chorus. 

Grayson Stone is a tall, somewhat emaciated man, 
about thirty-five years of age. He is suffering from 
amnesia, superinduced by sunstroke and exposure, 
and has reverted to type. His hair and beard are 
brown in color and quite unkempt, while his face, 
arms, and bare feet are deeply tanned. He is 
dressed, Hopi fashion, in a faded blue shirt and 
nondescript tan cotton trousers. He wears a band 
of red cloth about his head. 

Christine is a well-poised, good-looking young 
woman, blonde as to complexion, and obviously 
Back Bay as to social status. She wears an ecru 
pongee motor coat over a blue summer frock, sun- 
hat, tourist veil, and stout walking boots. 

Dr. James Hormek is a short, somewhat stout per- 
son, who would be singled out anywhere as a suc- 
cessful physician. He has a generous, senti- 
mental nature which he tries to disguise by a 
brusque manner and clipped, incisive mode of 
8 



MIRAGE 



speech. He is dressed in tweeds^ golf cap^ and 
tortoise-shell glasses y and carries motor gauntlets. 

The action takes place upon the roof of an adobe 
house y which forms one of the higher terraces in a 
Hopi pueblo. To the right and left the walls of an- 
other course of dwellings rise and are lost to sight 
in the flies. At the rear is a low battlement of sun- 
baked bricks y beyond which the silent desert and the 
purple waste of space stretch illimitably, A rude 
ladder leans against the wall, right , and the top of 
another can be seen projecting above the battlement. 
It is the hour before dawn on an August morning, 
Polaina is discovered at a stone corn-trough, down- 
stage, left, 

POLAINA {grinding corn and singing) 
I-o-ho wonder-water, 
I-o-ho wonder-water, 
Life anew to him who drinks! 
Look where southwest clouds are bringing rain; 
Look where southeast clouds are bringing rain; 
Life anew to him who drinks! 
I-o-ho wonder-water, 
I-o-ho wonder water. 
Life anew to him who drinks!* 

{Two Hopi women bearing water-jars upon their 
heads enter from the left, rear. They put down the 
jars and squat beside them.) 

FIRST WOMAN {wcarily) 
Dry! 

* See note on page ;^6. 



MIRAGE 



SECOND WOMAN 

The rock pools are empty. 

FIRST WOMAN 

The Well of the Eagles has failed. 

POLAINA 

But the spring beneath the yuccas, at the foot 
of the mesa? Even in the moon of thirst it has 
always given sweet water. 

FIRST WOMAN 

Dry, too. The clay bottom is a crust of mud 
burned like adobe. 

SECOND WOMAN 

Only the poisoned pool yields its palmful of bad 
medicine. 

POLAINA 

The old men say that there has neVer been so 
parched a summer; never so great a drouth in 
all the years since the gods, our fathers, fled to 
this mesa from the falling mountains. 

FIRST WOMAN {taking a gourd bottle from the folds 
of her blanket) 

I have brought the witch-water from the poi- 
soned pool. 

POLAINA {surprised) 

What will you do with that? 

SECOND WOMAN {significantly) 

The thirst will soon be upon us. This is the milk 
of forgetfulness from the breasts of Death. 

FIRST WOMAN {nodding assent) 
When the throat is afire and the tongue hangs 

TO 



MIRAGE 



like a blackened bean-pod between cracked, 
swollen lipsj swift death will be good medicine. 

PC LAIN A {cheerfully) 

Do not speak of death; the rains must come 
soon. Uncle Loloamai and the priests have been 
three days in the Kivas below the earth, weav- 
ing the ceremonial cords of many colors and 
binding feathers upon the sacred bahos.^ When 
the yellow line brightens in the east we shall 
plant them upon the edge of the mesa toward 
the dawn, and the climbing sun will bear our 
prayers for rain aloft. 

SECOND WOMAN {skeptically) 

Bahos ! What virtue is there in prayers breathed 
to the turkey feathers and eagle feathers upon 
a painted stick? 

POLAINA 

Last year the Blue Flutes danced, the women 
planted bahos in the white dawn, and at sunset 
the rain clouds kissed the painted desert with a 
crystal kiss. 
SECOND WOMAN {looking sJiarply at Polaina) 

Some say it was not Hevebe, the Rain Lord, but 
the White Bahana^, who brought luck, for it was 
on that day that our herdsmen found him nearly 
dead with thirst in the desert, and brought him 
to the pueblo. 

FIRST WOMAN 

The Great Spirit behind the sun had touched 
him, and the Drouth Demons feared him. The 
Heyapo, the rushing clouds, followed the trail 



^ Bahos = votive prayer-sticks. 
2Bahana = white man. 

II 



MIRAGE 



of the mad white stranger. {Touching her head.) 
The queer are good medicine. 

SECOND WOMAN 

Polaina, this Bahana is your lover. Can you 
not make him work his strong rain-charm again? 

POLAINA 

He says that he makes no medicine, that he has 
no power. He does not even know whence he 
came, or his name, or the home of his people. 

FIRST WOMAN 

The sun brings forgetfulness. 

SECOND WOMAN 

He is not a man, but a child of the sun. 

POLAINA 

He is a man! {Enigmatically,) It is not well 
that a woman should be spouse to the child of a 
god. 

FIRST WOMAN 

Then you are to be his woman? 
POLAINA {touching the great wing whorls of hair 
on the sides of her head) 

I would cast aside the blossom of the squash for 
no other. For him alone would I let down these 
coils of maidenhood and plait them in wifely 
fashion. 

SECOND WOMAN 

The white corn and the red corn do not grow on 
one stock. 

POLAINA 

No, but they are ground in the same trough, 
and when the pika^ is baked it is as sweet as 
bread from unmingled meal. 



^Pika = cakes — "paper bread.' 
12 



MIRAGE 



FIRST WOMAN 

You know nothing of the Bahana*s tribe. What 
if the gods should give back his memory and he 
should carry you far from your people to the 
Eastland, where the sun grows cold with cloud? 

POLAINA 

I should be happy anywhere with him. 

FIRST WOMAN 

Perhaps he already has a white woman for wife. 
Some day he may remember. The eagle flies 
far; but when the blood of dying day is red upon 
the canyon crest, he returns to his nest among 
the rocks. 

POLAINA 

For my Bahana there are no yesterdays. He 
was born again of the desert and the sun. The 
past is a mirage. Nothing is real but our love, 
and in it are all the to-morrows. 

SECOND WOMAN (dully) 

Unless the rains come there will be no to-morrow 
for the children of Muyinguava.^ 

{A pause. Polaina continues at her work. The 
First Woman points toward the east^ where the 
first light of dawn is brightening,) 

FIRST WOMAN 

The spirits of the dawn are bending a yellow 
line in the east like a string to the great bow of 
the sky, and soon the blazing arrow of the sun 
will shoot upward to the cloudless heavens. 

{From below and at some distance comes the 



^ Muyinguava = life-giving god — spirit of growth and 
fertility. 

n 



MIRAGE 



rhythmic chant of the men as they file up from the 
Kivas or council chambers to make invocation to 
the Great-Spirit-Behind-the-Sun for the life-giving 
rains. They approach slowly. Their song in- 
creasing in volume for a time dies gradually 
as they move eastward toward the edge of the mesaS) 

{Grayson Stone climbs halfway down the ladder y 
right, and stands silent for a moment, a dark 
silhouette against the growing light. He speaks 
slowly, almost colorlessly.) 

STONE 

May you have good in your hearts, O women ! 

POLAINA AND WOMEN 

May you have good in your heart, O Bahana! 
{He descends.) 

STONE 

Will there be rain to-day? 
POLAINA {approaching him) 
Listen! The men are marching to the eastern 
clifF to pray for it. If the Demons keep the 
breath of the prayer-sticks from the Great- 
Spirit-Behind-the-Sun, the young men and the 
Antelope Priests must dance the dance of the 
rattlesnake to-morrow. Then surely there will 
be rain. 

SECOND WOMAN 

There will be no rain. 

STONE 

The sun is still beneath the rim of the desert, 
but it is already fever-hot. Give me to drink. 

^ Chant should be accompanied by drum (tom-tom) and 
Indian flute. 



MIRAGE 



FIRST WOMAN 

The springs are dried up. We have no water. 

POLAINA 

Is it true, my Bahana, as these women say, that 
in your country it rains many times and the sun 
is as pale as the moon ? 

STONE 

My country! I have no country but this. I 
remember nothing earher than my first sight of 
you as you bent above me and poured the hving 
water, drop by drop, upon my tortured tongue. 
I have tried to recall the past, for I know that I 
have not lived here always. I must be of another 
— another tribe. But it's no use. When I strive 
to remember, I am like one in the darkness of a 
strange house where still things and living 
things are vaguely sensed, but are not seen or 
known. 

POLAINA 

Some day you will remember; and in that day 
I shall be forgotten. 
STONE {takes her hand) 

I must go on trying, but I shall never pierce the 
darkness. Yet, even if the lost should come 
back to me, if I should learn to remember, it 
would make no difference in our love, Polaina. 

POLAINA 

Are you sure, Bahana? That is a fear that is 
with me always. The call of the tribe is strong 
and blood will answer blood. 

STONE 

No, my Butterfly, love is a mightier magic, 
greater than all the powers, stronger than death 

15 



MIRAGE 



itself. You are my tribe, and when my arms 
are about you I embrace my only people. Love 
sits with us in the Council Kiva of Life, and who 
shall dare to make evil medicine where he 
abides? O little Butterfly, have you begun to 
doubt me? Have you ceased to trust my love? 

POLAINA 

No, no, I trust you ! . . . And yet I am afraid. 
Though the coyote-cub be suckled by a dog on 
the roof of a chief's house, time comes when the 
ancient longing for the wide waste of moonwhite 
desert leaps in his heart and he answers the sum- 
mons of the far-ofF pack. 

STONE 

I am not a wolf, but a man. I shall remain upon 
the roof of the chief's house. 

POLAINA 

You say that because you have not come to re- 
member. Perhaps you once loved another wo- 
man, and when the thought of her returns I 
shall be left alone. 

STONE 

There can be no other woman, Butterfly. 

POLAINA 

The wells fail, the Demons are angry, and we 
must die of thirst unless the rains come swiftly. 
If you heard the call to return to the land of 
cloud and rivers, the call of life and love and 
your own people, you would go. 

STONE 

In life or death you are mine; I would not go. 
{Pause.) Come, you shall plant a baho for me 
on the edge of the mesa. 
i6 



MIRAGE 



POLAINA 

You are a white man, a Bahana! Can you be- 
lieve in Hopi magic? 

STONE 

Our souls are of one tribe, and I believe in you. 
Come! 

(They go off stage ^ rights hand in hand.) 

FiKST WOMAN {grinding corn) 

I grind the red corn and the white corn in one 
trough. 

SECOND WOMAN 

Meal is not bread until it has felt the fire. 

FIRST WOMAN 

How lies the corn in the Kivas on the Altar of the 
Six Directions? 
SECOND WOMAN {sorting corn) 

A yellow ear to the north, and a blue ear to the 
west, a sugar ear for the zenith of the sun, and a 
black ear for its nadir, a red ear to the south, 
and a white ear to the east. It is a powerful 
charm to lay them so, but to mingle them is bad 
medicine. 

{The southern dawn has come swiftly y and the desert 
begins to glow with the growing warmth of the sum- 
mer sun. The light and heat increase in intensity 
throughout the rest of the action^ 

{Christine and Br. Hormek enter^ left.) 

FIRST WOMAN 

A red ear to the south and a white ear to the 
east; an evil charm and a bad medicine if they 
be mingled. 

17 



MIRAGE 



CHRISTINE {advancing) 
Good-morning. 

WOMEN 

May good be in your hearts! 
CHRISTINE {illustrating her words with gesture and 
raising her voice as one does when one thinks the 
hearer unfamiliar with one's language) 
We wish to buy pottery — jars, you know. 

{The women indicate that they understand,) 

SECOND WOMAN 

We have many beautiful pots. We will show. 
{The First Woman goes of stage ^ right ^ 

DR. HORMEK 

Now, don't be long, Christine. It*s hot on this 
roof already, and in an hour it'll be unbearable. 

CHRISTINE 

Five minutes will be long enough. Dr. Hormek. 

DR. HORMEK {humorouslj petulant) 

That's what you said at Acoma, and it took two 
hours. O, you women! When the bargaining 
instinct gets you, the devil himself couldn't 
drag you away. 

CHRISTINE {bantering him) 

You'll remember, doctor, that I didn't ask you 
to come with me. 

HORMEK 

O, you didn't, eh? I suppose I'm to let you go 
wandering all over this godforsaken desert alone! 
I never should have permitted you to leave 
Havordton. 

i8 



MIRAGE 



CHRISTINE {tossing her head) 

Do you think that you could have prevented 
my coming? 

HORMEK 

No, I suppose not. But you'll have to admit 
that the whole thing has been a wild-goose chase. 
Now, hasn't it? 
CHRISTINE {seriously) 

I have not given up hope. 

HORMEK 

Ah, but you have! I can see it in your eyes. 
Your voice cries out, "No hope," even when 
you are protesting the opposite. Come, Chris- 
tine, give up this silly business. It can mean 
but unhappiness for both of us. 

CHRISTINE 

I shall not give up until I have found Grayson, 
or have conclusive proof that he is dead. 

HORMEK 

Proof! Great Scott! Haven't you the word of 
the guides and the government agent for it? 
Your brother, who spent months searching the 
desert for him, believes he is dead. No man 
could Hve without food or water through an 
August week in these wastes. 

CHRISTINE 

The very fact that they found no trace of him 
convinces me that he is still alive. 

HORMEK 

For quixotic obstinacy, go to a woman, especially 
a married one! Here am I, trailing you all over 
this damned — I beg your pardon — this infernal 
country like a love-sick crusader when I ought 

19 



MIRAGE 



to be back home with my patients. Many of 
them are not half so crazy as I am. 

CHRISTINE {coolly) 

Well, why not take a train to-morrow? By 
starting now you will have plenty of time to 
reach the railroad. 

HORMEK 

I shan't leave without you; you know that. 
CHRISTINE {banter ingly) 

For quixotic obstinacy, go to a man, especially 
an unmarried one. 

HORMEK 

Tm not good at repartee. Hang it all, Christine, 
I want to marry you, can't you understand 
that? {She smiles,) Oh, it's damned humorous, 
no doubt, and I'm making seven kinds of an ass 
of myself, but I can't help it. It's enough to 
make any red-blooded man fighting mad, to 
have a woman like you within his reach and be 
denied her by this gho — {He is about to say 
^^ghosty^ but changes it to) — this romantic fancy 
of yours. 
CHRISTINE {serious again) 
Please don't say any more. 

HORMEK 

I shan't, if it pains you, dear, but honestly 
now — 

CHRISTINE 

There, you're beginning all over again! 

HORMEK 

Well, let me have my word out now, and I swear 
I won't trouble you again. We've been at every 
pueblo and white settlement in this benighted 
20 



MIRAGE 



region; you're ruining your health, and still no 
word of Grayson. I want you to promise that 
you'll go back home with me at the end of this 
week. {He seizes her hand.) Will you, Chris- 
tine .^ 

{The First Woman returns with a back-load of 
pottery^ 

CHRISTINE {hesitant) 
I — I don't know. 

SECOND WOMAN 

Pots of the butterfly and pots of the eagle, 

bowls of the rain-beast, and jars with the sign 

of Hevebe. 
FIRST WOMAN {displaying her wares) 

Paint cups, corn bowls, and water-jars. 
CHRISTINE {examining the collection with the eye of a 

connoisseur) 

The burning is not so good as that of Acoma. 

{Holding up a small bowL) How much? 

FIRST WOMAN 

Three dollar? 

CHRISTINE 

One. 
SECOND WOMAN {protesting) 

The lady knows the best. Three dollar it is 

little. 
CHRISTINE {firmly) 

One. 

FIRST WOMAN 

Two dollar? 

HORMEK 

Give it to her and let's get out of here. {Takes 
two silver dollars from purse.) 

21 



MIRAGE 



CHRISTINE 

It*s not worth that much. (Hormek is about to 
give the coins to the woman,) She means two 
dollars Mexican; one of those is sufficient. 

{Hormek pays; Christine turns to go.) 

FIRST WOMAN {taking a small jar out of a larger one 

and holding it up) 

Good medicine! 
uoKiA'EYi {taking the jar) 

I say, Christine, look at this one! Red and 

white, Greek fret, and {Examining it closely)^ 

by George, Greek letters — Alpha, Pi, Sigma! 
CHRISTINE {as if stricken by a blow) 

Why, so it is! {To woman) Where did you get 

this? It's not Hopi. 

SECOND WOMAN 

We make; Bahana paint. 

HORMEK 

Who? 

FIRST WOMAN 

Bahana, white man. 

HORMEK 

How'd he come to paint it? Who is he? 
FIRST WOMAN {toucMng her forchcad significantly) 
A child of the mirage touched by the Great- 
Spirit-Behind-the-Sun. 

SECOND WOMAN 

The forgetful one who gives us luck. 

CHRISTINE 

Oh, if it is he! 

22 



MIRAGE 



HORMEK 

Bring him here. 

{Second Woman nods and goes outy right,) 

CHRISTINE 

How long has the white man been with you? 

FIRST WOMAN 

Since this time last year. We found him dying 
in the desert just before the rains came. 

HORMEK 

And he remembers nothing? 

FIRST WOMAN 

His mind is like a bowl before it is painted. 
CHRISTINE {moving impulsively toward the right) 

I must go to him ! 
HORMEK {detaining her) 

No, stay here. Try to calm yourself. It may 

be a mistake. It may be someone else. 
CHRISTINE {hysterically) 

Let me go! You don't want me to find him, 

you, you — 

HORMEK 

Good God, Christine! Do you think Fm such 
a cad? You're getting hysterical. Brace up, 
girl, I don't fancy having a collapse patient on 
my hands in the middle of this blasted desert. 

{Stone and Polaina enter slowly, right. His arm 
is about her waist ^ 

CHRISTINE {rushing to Stone and embracing him) 

Grayson ! 
HORMEK {the sentimentalist) 

O faith of woman! 

23 



MIRAGE 



POLAiNA {interposing and pushing Christine away) 
Go Vay, white woman! 

CHRISTINE 

He is my husband. {She attempts to seize Stone's 
hands.) Speak to me, Gray! 

{Grayson stands dazed and embarrassed and gives 
no sign of recognition. Polaina looks at him 
questioningly^ and then turns scornfully to Chris- 
tine^ 

POLAINA 

Let him choose! 
STONE {oblivious of the newcomers) 
Come along, Butterfly. 

{Polaina smiles in triumph and puts her arm 
about him, Christine sinks to a seat on the ground 
and sobs hysterically ?j 

HORMEK {professionally) 

Brace up, I need your help. It's a case of fugue, 
I think. Pull yourself together and we'll save 
him yet. 

{Stone and Polaina move off. Christine stiffens 
and sits with tensely clasped hands. Hormek 
seizes Stone's arm and forces him to look at the 
''Greek'' jar.) 

HORMEK 

Did you paint this? 

STONE {slowly) 

Yes. . . . Yes, I painted it. 

HORMEK {pointing to the design and speaking in the 
even^ deliberate tone which one uses with a hyp- 
notic subject) 

24 



MIRAGE 



Greek! Does that suggest anything? Alpha, 
Pi, Sigma! Greek! 

{Stone traces the letters with a labored finger and 
speaks dreamily) 

STONE 

Alpha . . . Pi . . . Sigma . . . Greek 
. . . Greek letter. 

HORMEK 

Fraternity. 

STONE 

My fraternity . . . We . . . there was 
a girl . . . We danced there. 

HORMEK 

Our last college dance. Do you recall the girl's 
name? Christine? 
STONE {groping) 

I think, I think it was Christine. . . . Yes, 
that was it, Christine. 

HORMEK 

It was in May, our commencement night. 
STONE {piecing the ideas together laboriously) 

Christine, . . . moonlight, . . . Campus 
trees, . . . elm trees . . . Commencement 
. . . Christine ... I asked her and she 
. . . she promised to marry me. 

{Christine is about to cry outy but is stopped by a 
warning gesture of Hormek) 

HORMEK 

You married her. You married Christine. 
STONE {very slowly^ as one emerging from sleep) 
Yes, I married her. {Showing interest for first 
time.) Where is she ? Where am I ? 

25 



MIRAGE 



CHRISTINE (throwing her arms about him) 
Here I am. Don't you know me, Gray? 

STONE (his voice and manner changing to that of an 
alerty cultured man) 

Of course I know you. Why shouldn't I ? How 
did you get here? (Looking about,) I don't re- 
member coming to this pueblo. Where's the 
rest of the expedition? 

HORMEK (soothingly) 

In good time, in good time, old man. You've 
been very sick, y' know. Sunstroke. 

STONE 

Nonsense! Never felt better. What's the joke? 
How did you get here, Chrisie ? 

CHRISTINE 

I came to find you. 

HORMEK 

And the devil's own time she's had of it. 
STONE (impulsively seizing Hormek's hand) 

Why, Jim Hormek, you old villain! You here, 

too? So I've been sick. How long have I been 

here? 
CHRISTINE (caressing him) 

A year, dearest. 
STONE (incredulously) 

A year? Surely not! Why, it was only this 

morning I left camp to look for a poison pool 

the natives told me of. 

HORMEK 

A year ago these Indians found you dying of 
thirst out yonder in the desert. 

CHRISTINE 

We have been searching for you ever since 

26 



MIRAGE 



Brother Jack reported your disappearance, and 
at last . . . Thank God! {She clings to him,) 
{Pause.) 

HORMEK 

I had given you up for dead. 

STONE 

And yet you kept up the search, like the faithful 
old friend you are. 
HORMEK {looking at Christine) 

Selfishness often travels the same road with 
love. You have only Christine to thank. 

CHRISTINE 

I could not have restored his memory; that part 
was yours. 

HORMEK 

Let it be for my atonement. 

STONE 

What have I been doing here? I remember 
nothing. 

HORMEK 

Living the life of a native, I should think; 
eating, sleeping . . . {He stops abruptly and 
looks at Polaina. Christine does the same, 
Hormek and Christine exchange glances.) 
STONE {apparently seeing Polaina for the first time) 
Why do you look at that girl so strangely? 

{There is an embarrassing silence. Hormek and 
Christine are evidently trying to think of the dip- 
lomatic thing to say. Christine succeeds first arid 
says gently — ) 

CHRISTINE 

I — I think she has been very good to you. Gray. 
27 



MIRAGE 



STONE 

Has she? Strange that I can't remember her. 
{Polaina clutches at her heart), 

SECOND WOMAN {grinding corn) 

The eagle returns to his nest. 
FIRST WOMAN {sorting corn) 

A white ear to the east, a red ear to the south, 

and an evil medicine if they be mingled. 
CHRISTINE (weakly) 

I feel faint. (She sways; Stone supports her.) 

HORMEK 

The heat is becoming unbearable. (To the wo- 
men) Any water there? (They nod denial.) 
YouVe both been under a big strain. Let's get 
out of here. 

STONE 

Yes, but first I must thank these Indians. (Feels 
for moneyy but discovers that he is wearing the 
pocketless clothes of the Hopi.) Have you any 
money with you, Jim ? 
HORMEK (handing Stone a purse) 

I'll take Christine down into the shade. We'll 
start for civilization as soon as you can make 
your adieux. Don't linger, now. 

STONE 

Trust me, I shan't be long. (He kisses Chris- 
tine,) Wait for me, dearest. 

CHRISTINE 

I shall wait for you. (Christine, supported by 
Hormeky goes out,) 

(Stone goes over to Polaina,) 
28 



MIRAGE 



STONE {formally) 
I have you and your people to thank for my 
life, and I am truly grateful. Take this, not in 
payment, but as a poor token of my gratitude. 
(He closes her hand about the purse. She puts her 
hands behind her back^ the purse drops unnoticed^ 
What is your name? 

POLAINA 

You called me Butterfly. 
STONE {indulgently^ as to a child) 
Did I? What a pretty name! 

POLAINA 

You are going away? 
STONE {in a matter-of-fact voice) 
Yes, I must go back to my people. 

POLAINA 

The coyote answers the summons of the pack. 
The eagle circles low at the she-eagle's call. 
STONE {somewhat puzzled) 

You mean that the white lady is my wife, and 
that I am going back with her? 

POLAINA 

Yes. What of me? 

STONE {mystified) 
You? Fm afraid I don't understand. 

POLAINA {passionately) 

Am I not your people, am I not your woman? 
Have you forgotten your oath, have you for- 
gotten the kisses of Polaina? You loved me, 
and I gave you all my love — all! all! 

STONE {starting back) 

I kissed you? I said I loved you? I can't re- 
member. No, no, I never did that! 
2-9 



MIRAGE 



POLAINA {unwinding her maiden coils of black 
hair) 

Look! it was for you that I came out from among 
the maidens. 

FIRST WOMAN 

She spoke truly. 

SECOND WOMAN 

She was his woman. 
STONE {suddenly realizing her meaning) 
Not that! O, my God! What have I done? 

POLAINA 

In the sight of your gods and of my gods, I am 
your woman. 

STONE 

How shall a man atone for a sin he never willed 
to do? {An agonized pause.) What do you 
wish? 

POLAINA 

You, your love. 

STONE 

Whatever may have been, that is impossible 
now. I am already married. 

POLAINA 

She has no children? 

STONE 

No, but— 

POLAINA 

Judge then, which of us is more truly your wife. 

STONE 

I must go to her. I must go to her. 
POLAINA {strangely stoical) 

Yes, you must go. It is useless to fight against 
30 



MIRAGE 



the spell of blood, but in the eyes of the gods 
you will always be mine. 
STONE {torn with remorse) 

Is there nothing I can do, nothing that will give 
you back your life, your happiness? 

POLAINA 

The wells have failed, and the rains are not yet. 
A little while and I, with all my people, must 
journey to the country of the dead. My suffer- 
ing is less than yours, for you must live with 
your thoughts. 

{A new light comes into her eyes^ her body stiffens 
with purpose. Stone is too busy with his trouble 
to discern the change in her. She smiles,) 

STONE 

Yes, life is often more cruel than death. 
POLAINA {lifting the gourd bottle) 
This is the last water I shall ever taste. Will 
you drink it with me for good-bye? 

STONE 

I cannot take it, when you need it so much. It 
may keep you alive until the rain. 
POLAINA {coaxingly) 
Will you deny me this last little joy? Drink, 
drink! 

{Stone drinks, hands the gourd to Polaina and 
she, too, drinks^ 

FIRST WOMAN {springing up) 

They have drunk the — 
SECOND WOMAN {drawing her down) 

Peace! The milk of forgetfulness. It is better 

so. 

31 



MIRAGE 



(Polaina raises and lowers her arms rhythmically 
toward the heavens. Her lips move rapidly as in 
prayer^ 

FIRST WOMAN 

She is praying to the Master of the Rods of 
Life, she is praying for the rains. 

SECOND WOMAN 

No, she does not face the East. She is praying 
to the Demons against the rains. She wishes 
to die. 

(Polaina regains her composure. She seats her- 
self and motions for Stone to sit beside her. He 
obeys.) 

POLAINA {calmly) 

Forgive me. The sun has made me mad. {She 
touches Stone's forehead.) You, too, are fevered. 

STONE 

Yes, I feel as if I were in a burning forest. 
POLAINA {slowly, in a soothing voice, almost like an 
incantation) 

Your head throbs, your lips are like charred 
embers. 

STONE 

My throat is parching. 

POLAINA 

The morning wind is dead. 

STONE 

My eyes burn. 

POLAINA 

The desert is burning. It is wrapped in the 
flame of the sun. 

32 



MIRAGE 



STONE 

The heat curves and wavers. The air stifles me. 

POLAINA 

You are very thirsty, very thirsty. 

STONE 

Yes, yes! 

POLAINA 

Your tongue thickens, your throat is a tor- 
tured coal. Thirsty, thirsty. 

STONE 

The sun beats like — like a thousand hammers 
on my head. I think I am dying. 

POLAINA 

Come, I will shade you with my blanket. {She 
draws him to her and puts her blanket about him.) 
You are very thirsty. 
STONE {weakly) 

I must go; they are waiting. 

POLAINA 

You wish to drink, to drink, to drink. You are 
thirsty, very thirsty. 

STONE 

Water! Water! 
POLAINA {her arms about him^ holds the gourd to his 
lips) 
Drink ! {He drinks,) 

STONE 

My brain reels. {He struggles to rise, but is re- 
strained by Polaina.) 

I — must — go to — to — to drink! to drink! to 
DRINK! 

POLAINA 

No, not yet, my Bahana. You thirst. But you 
will not go. 

33 



MIRAGE 



STONE {dreamily and in his first manner) 

Come, we will find cold water, and you shall 
plant a baho for me on the edge of the desert. 

POLAINA 

You have no wife. You have no wife, and you 
are thirsty. No wife, only Polaina. 

STONE (wandering) 
A wife? Don't tease me! You are my wife, 
Polaina. 

POLAINA 

The white woman is waiting, but you will not 
go. You will stay with Polaina, for you are very 
thirsty. 

STONE 

I know no woman but you. Water! Water! 

POLAINA {passionately) 

Kiss me. {He kisses her.) Have you forgotten 
your people? 

STONE 

I have no people. {He claws at his throat.) Vm. 
dying with thirst. Water! 

POLAINA {holding the gourd upside down) 

There is no more water. 
STONE {frenzied) 

No water? You lie! {Getting to his feet un- 

steadily and pointing into the desert^ Look! 

The lake! Water! The lake, the lake! 
POLAINA {laughing^ hut without mirth) 

Mirage, like our lives. 

STONE 

No! No! It's real, I tell you. Water! Water! 
Come. {He moves to the left.) 
34 



MIRAGE 



POLAINA {triumphantly) 
The desert gave you to me; the desert is my 
mother. I will go. We shall die in the beautiful 
desert ! 

STONE 

We shall not die. We shall live our love beside 
the sweet waters. 

POLAINA {ecstatically) 

Our love shall not die. It shall laugh on the 
wind of the desert, when the morrow's sands 
drift over us. Come, my Bahana. 

STONE {embracing her) 
Butterfly! 

(They go out, left, in each other s arms. The 
voice of Hormek is heard below, of stage, right,) 

HORMEK 

Ready to leave, Grayson? 

FIRST WOMAN 

The desert has conquered. They follow the 
mirage. 

SECOND WOMAN {grinding corn) 

White corn and red corn are ground and 
mingled. The pika smokes on the oven stones. 

FIRST WOMAN {in bcncdiction) 
May good be in their hearts! 

SECOND WOMAN 

May good be in their hearts! 

VOICE OF CHRISTINE {calling) 
Gray, ho Gray! 

35 



MIRAGE 



FIRST WOMAN {rising and turning her water- jar up- 
side down) 
Tenkia! It is all finished. 

SECOND WOMAN {following her example) 
Aye, Tenkia! 

{They pass out slowly toward the left as the cur- 
tain falls.) 



MUSIC 

Polaina's song is the "Laguna Corn-grinding Song/' 
while the Men's Chant is the "Lene Tawi" (Hopi Flute 
Song.) The words and music are to be found only in 
"The Indians' Book," by NataHe Curtis [Natalie Curtis 
Burlin]. 

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